671: What values do I hold as a teacher? What do I bring to the classroom?

As a teacher, my values and what I bring to the classroom is exemplified in my autoethnography paper. This piece helped me grow as not only an instructor, but at as a person. The process of writing this indicates this. I start off by discussing my Indian-American heritage, which is important to my role as a social science instructor. As an Indo-American, I bring an understanding of eastern and western values. The learning process for this particular field can relate to me utilizing my past experiences to become a better teacher. As an instructor, I suggest that I this can help me bridge students’ multifaceted cultures and encourage them to embrace their identity as an American and other ethnic group. I discussed that I lost touch with my Indian heritage during my primary and secondary education. It is my goal to teach my students to embrace everything they are given.

Telling my story during my autoethnography made me realize how important autoethnography can be. They can create classroom community. What I bring to the classroom is the sense of community regardless of socioeconomic, sexual, mental, or cultural barriers.Freeman (2001) elaborates on this concept in their piece Using Adolescents’ Oral and Written Narratives to Create Classroom Community. As an instructor and former secondary school student, I understand that there is a need to talk and discuss stories. I discuss my own mental health issues. This allows me to become an advocate for students struggling with a myriad of mental health issues. I deliberately state in my piece of evidence that I want to be an advocate for my students. This can apply to the values I hold, and what I bring to the classroom, which is the overarching theme of my paper.  The piece of evidence also tackles the issue of Islamophobia, and how I grew from my predisposed notion. This portion shows my willingness to change my opinion and it will allow me to perhaps change any other predispositions when I become a teacher.  To answer the central questions once again, I value giving my students a voice that they might not have elsewhere. This can be personified through assignments like the “Struggle”assignment in I Learn America. As social science instructors, we are not only curators of history, government, and economics, we are curators of culture. By giving students a voice and perspective, I am instilling the idea that all cultures have value, not just the dominant culture. I am also willing to change my perspective based on what I learn from my students. The evidence can befound here.

References

Johnson, H, Freeman, L (2001), Using Adolescents' Oral and Written Narratives to Create                      Classroom Community. Retrieved from Ares.